Miley Cyrus upholds MTV VMAs tradition

By Breeanna Hare, CNN

Updated 6:32 AM ET, Tue August 27, 2013

Photos: Memorable VMA moments14 photos

Memorable VMA moments: 1984 – Here's a look back at some of the most memorable MTV Video Music Awards moments over the years. Dressed in a revealing wedding dress, lace gloves and her infamous "boy toy" belt, Madonna performed "Like a Virgin" at the first Video Music Awards in 1984. Her album of the same name, which dropped that November, went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time. Click through to see how many you remember:

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Memorable VMA moments: 1991 – After his 1991 arrest made him the target of some gags, Paul Reubens took the VMAs stage as Pee-wee Herman, asking, "Heard any good jokes lately?"

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Memorable VMA moments: 1992 – Howard Stern, dressed as "Fartman," showed off his butt cheeks at the 1992 show in a pair of tight yellow pants with strategically placed cutouts. The audience got a good look at the radio personality's derriere when he was lowered onto the stage to present an award.

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Memorable VMA moments: 1994 – Newlyweds Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley smooched on stage in 1994 after Jackson addressed the crowd, "And just think, nobody thought this would last." The pair of course parted ways less than two years later.

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Memorable VMA moments: 1999 – Lil' Kim wore a purple wig and pantsuit to the 1999 VMAs. Revealing her left breast, which was covered by a matching pasty, the getup gave a whole new meaning to off the shoulder. Diana Ross fondled Lil' Kim's exposed lady part during the show, and we've never been able to forget it.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2000 – Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford literally raged against the 2000 VMAs after losing best rock video to Limp Bizkit. Commerford climbed a set on stage during Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst's acceptance speech. Charges for assault and resisting arrest were eventually dropped.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2002 – At the 2002 awards show, Eminem got into an altercation with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the celebrity-mocking puppet who first appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." The rapper shoved the puppet during its interview with Moby, whom Eminem bashed during his acceptance speech later that night.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2003 – How does an iconic pop star pass the torch? By kissing her successors on stage at the 2003 VMAs, of course. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera donned wedding dresses to pay homage to Madonna's 1984 performance of "Like a Virgin" before Madge joined them on stage. She danced with and kissed each of the young singers before calling Missy Elliott to the stage.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2007 – After shaving her head and seeking treatment in early 2007, Britney Spears' VMA performance was touted as her "comeback." However, the singer's awkward "Gimme More" performance was met with critical reviews. Time said the usually confident Spears looked "tired, nervous, uncomfortable, aloof and out of place."

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Memorable VMA moments: 2009 – Taylor Swift's 2009 acceptance speech for best female video was cut short when Kanye West rushed the stage and proclaimed, "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time." Bey went on to win the video of the year for award for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)." She invited the "You Belong With Me" singer back on stage to finish her acceptance speech. At the 2010 awards show, Swift forgave West with a song.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2010/2011 – In 2010, Lady Gaga accepted the award for video of the year wearing a dress, hat, heels and clutch made of raw meat. She even asked Cher, who presented her with the award, to hold her meat purse while she thanked her fans. Gaga later explained the look, saying, "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat." She showed up to the 2011 VMAs in drag, dressed as her alter ego Jo Calderone.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2011 – After Beyonce finished singing her hit "Love on Top," she dropped the mic, opened her jacket and revealed the baby bump that would become Blue Ivy.

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Memorable VMA moments: 2012 – Taylor Swift has long been an artist of the people, but she strutted her stuff in little black shorty shorts and crowd-surfed during a performance of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."

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Memorable VMA moments: 2013 – Miley Cyrus was met with a general consensus of disgust after she twerked and gyrated on stage as Robin Thicke sang his hit single "Blurred Lines" during the 2013 VMAs.

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Story highlights

Miley Cyrus stunned viewers at Sunday's MTV VMAs

But the 20-year-old is far from the first to pull off such a stunt

The VMAs are known for their outlandish performances

And, Cyrus has increasingly worked to shed her Disney image

Every awards ceremony has its reputation, and MTV's Video Music Awards proudly wears the badge of scandal.

Where the Oscars are elegant and the Golden Globes rowdy, the VMAs are all about testing the boundaries of what culture deems "decent" and reveling in youthful (and, yes, sometimes immature) freedom.

As host network MTV has said of the memorable moment, Spears' "striptease (not to mention the accompanying panting and grinding) served notice that Britney was no longer the pigtailed schoolgirl of the '... Baby One More Time' video, but rather a full-grown, supremely sexy woman."

The singer followed up that headline-making move by dancing seductively with a snake in 2001. In 2003, as a callback to the VMA original "Like a Virgin" performance, Spears and Christina Aguilera wore wedding white for the performance. And then there was the famous Spears kiss with Madonna. When that scene threw Spears back into the crossfire, the pop star told CNN that she was just "performing and expressing myself."

And need we remind you of Nirvana's havoc-filled performance of "Lithium" in 1992, or Diana Ross feeling up Lil Kim's bare breast in 1999? (If you need a refresher, recall that Lil Kim was wearing a violet bodysuit that exposed one breast, which was covered with nothing more than a matching purple pasty.) Howard Stern, Marilyn Manson, Prince and Lady Gaga (the latter was at this very same show!) have all bared their bums for MTV's viewers.

To be sure, Cyrus' Sunday performance took notes from all of the above and combined them into one show-stealing set.

But that's more or less what the VMAs have historically been: A place to go wild (within reach of censors), and a platform for young stars to show the world that they're now adults, perhaps even one that feels comfortable bending over in front of an audience and dancing in a latex two-piece.

Yet the reaction to Cyrus appears to be more eviscerating than previous years. Some viewers were in awe that this is the same Cyrus who was once the Disney Channel's teen queen on "Hannah Montana," and others aghast at the provocativeness of her performance.

"Do you think (Miley's dad) Billy Ray Cyrus woke up with an achy breaky heart this morning after his little girl's performance at the VMAs last night?" said Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelly.

Judd Apatow, posting a picture of Cyrus from her 2012 movie "So Undercover," tweeted that he'll "always have this version of Miley. Let's live in the past and heal."

Cyrus herself has been silent about her set and its overwhelming reaction, but anyone who's paid the slightest attention to the star wouldn't be too surprised by her routine.

Although she rose to fame on "Hannah Montana," a role she landed at just 13, Cyrus has always had a rocky relationship with the squeaky clean image she was expected to uphold. At 15, the singer/actress came under fire after she posed topless for Vanity Fair, holding a sheet to her chest as she gazed at the camera.

The following year, Cyrus was criticized for her Teen Choice Awards performance, during which she danced atop an ice cream cart -- complete with a pole -- while singing her hit, "Party in the U.S.A." The moment would infamously become known as Cyrus' "pole dance." She was 16.

In the days following her 18th birthday in 2010, Cyrus was subjected to more scrutiny when a video surfaced of the star smoking a bong apparently filled with salvia. The attention has only increased in the years since, as Cyrus has tried to transition from her Disney days into being a grown-up pop star, complete with an eye-catching haircut and the occasional middle finger thrown up in photographs.

While her critics have been vocal about their discomfort with her behavior, Cyrus has said that she's simply being herself.

Speaking on her new album, "Bangerz," to Billboard magazine, she said that she feels like "I can really be myself. ... I really have more of a connection of who I am, and I feel like I can maybe express that more in my music now."